Announcement for Others’ Stuff: Sleuthfest Authors Help Aspiring Writers Get Published in 2013

Sometimes writers help writers by pointing them to opportunities outside their own. We do it periodically here. So while the Florida Writers Conference is the Greatest Writers Conference on Earth (it’s in the marketing so it must be true), other conferences add value, too. Today, we’ll look at a special one-day Sleuthfest conference coming up in February in Sarasota.

If your New Year’s Resolution is “get published,” you won’t want to miss Sleuthfest on Saturday (SOS), February 16, 2013, at the Hyatt Regency in Sarasota, FL. This powerful one-day writing conference, sponsored by the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, could rightly be nicknamed “Sleuthfest on Steroids” for its intense, hands-on workshops led by bestselling authors Elaine Viets and Kristy Montee (writing as P.J.Parrish).

To register for the conference, go to www.sleuthfest.com Please note that a limited number of guest rooms at the conference hotel are also available at a reduced price on a first-come/first-serve basis—and we’ll get an early start on Saturday, so staying at the conference hotel is highly desirable. Hotel information is available at www.sleuthfest.com

The night before the conference (7 p.m., Fri., Feb. 15), SOS instructors will be signing their books at Bookstore 1, 1359 Main St., Sarasota. It’s a great chance to meet, mingle, and ask a few questions before the sessions start!

At Sleuthfest on Saturday you can sign up to pitch Terri Bischoff, acquiring editor at Midnight Ink, or Jill Marr, acquiring associate agent at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. A ten-minute appointment with one or the other is only $20.

If you have a book that needs help, don’t throw in the towel. Go online to www.sleuthfest.com and register today. Two of the first 50 registrants will win a 50-page manuscript critique from either Elaine or Kristy.

Interested in e-publishing? Christine Kling, author of five books that have placed in Amazon’s Top 100 Paid Bestsellers in the Kindle Store, has a special session just for you.

All this, plus a box lunch and a cocktail party, combine to make SOS, a life-line for your career. So don’t delay. Make 2013 the year that you, your book, and your career shift into high gear with Sleuthfest on Saturday.